Sherrilyn Ifill insists that this is the time to play offense, not defense.

Ifill, the new president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, said that organizations working to protect and expand the rights of African-Americans must forcefully push a proactive agenda instead of only react to legal decisions that affect minority Americans.

“The offense game is figuring out the policies practices and laws that are interfering with the ability of African-Americans to attain educational and economic opportunities,” Ifill said, in an interview with BET.com.